News:

The Book of the Diner is well worth preserving. I only wish it had reached a broader audience when it might have mattered more. That is a testament to the blindness of our culture. If there is a future to look back from, one difficult question historians will have to ask is how we let this happen, when so many saw it coming. This site has certainly aggregated enough information and critical thinking to prove that.[/b]

Image copyright Holly-Anna Petersen/Christian Climate ActionImage caption A truck was used to block off a road in Marble Arch, with members locking themselves under the vehicle

Organisers claim protests are being held in over 80 cities across 33 countries.Skip Twitter post by @LibomalucReport

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Extinction Rebellion said protests would continue throughout the week "escalating the creative disruption across the capital day by day".

The group said it planned to "bring London to a standstill for up to two weeks", and wanted the government to take urgent action to tackle climate change.

In Parliament Square, protesters unfurled banners, held up placards and waved flags as speakers took to the stage.Who are Extinction Rebellion?

Since its launch last year, members have shut bridges, poured buckets of fake blood outside Downing Street, blockaded the BBC and stripped semi-naked in Parliament.

It has three core demands: for the government to "tell the truth about climate change", reduce carbon emissions to zero by 2025, and create a citizens' assembly to oversee progress.

Controversially, the group is trying to get as many people arrested as possible.

One of the group's founders, Roger Hallam, believes that mass participation and civil disobedience maximise the chances of social change.

But critics say they cause unnecessary disruption and waste police time when forces are already overstretched.

Image copyright ReutersImage caption Oil company Shell had its London headquarters targeted

By intentionally causing more than £6,000 damage at the Shell headquarters activists aim to get the case into crown court to put their case to a jury, the campaign said.Skip Twitter post by @Andrew9BoswellReport

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Protester Chay Harwood told the BBC: "We live in a very sick society at the moment. There's a lot of social issues and social ills that need curing.

"But at the moment the biggest threat we face is the threat of climate change."

The Met said it had "appropriate policing plans" in place for the demonstrations and officers from across the force would be used "to support the public order operation".

In November, activists blockaded the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy by chaining themselves together on the pavement, leading to 85 arrests.At the scene

By Matthew Cannon, BBC News

The unusual sight of a pink yacht stands in the centre of Oxford Circus, surrounded by protesters holding aloft a sea of coloured flags.

The focus here is on the future of the planet - and there is a sense of urgency.

Some are wearing red to symbolise "the blood of dying species", one group wants to "save the bees", while a man dressed as a centaur holds a placard which says "climate change is not a myth ...unlike centaurs".

Two young women tell me they are not willing to have children due to their fears for the world they will be bringing them into.

Another man, who plans to protest through the night, says the protests will be peaceful but he is willing to be arrested.

"The more the authorities will get fed up with us the more it brings us to their attention," he said.

Organisers have encouraged people to set up camp in Hyde Park overnight into Monday - an offence under Royal Parks legislation.

A spokeswoman for The Royal Parks said Extinction Rebellion had not asked for permission to begin the protest in the park and that camping was not allowed.

Image copyright Tolga Akmen/AFPImage caption Waterloo Bridge has been closed off to traffic

Since launching last year they have caused disruption by holding a "Funeral for our Future" outside Buckingham Palace, which led to 14 arrests, poured 200 liters of fake blood outside Downing Street, and brought London to a standstill by shutting down five bridges.

So far Extinction Rebellion has counted 222 arrests -- and thousands have declared they are willing to be arrested, or even go to prison, to demand action on climate change.

Method to the madness

Extinction Rebellion claims their actions are based on research into how to use "non-violent civil disobedience to achieve radical change."

An Extinction Rebellion protester, London, November 2018

They estimate that significant numbers of people will have to get arrested and cause disruption for the government to pay attention to their demands. These include the UK government declaring a climate change emergency, reducing greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2025 and starting a citizen's assembly.

"People making decisions have to pay attention to a mass of people that come out on to the streets to demand action in the face of this crisis we are in," said Roman Paluch-Machnik, an Extinction Rebellion activist who has been arrested more than once.

"You put the police in a dilemma," explained Nuala Gathercole Lam, another protester. "If you have got thousands of people refusing to move, they either have to let you do it, which is hugely economically disruptive, or they have to arrest you."

According to the group, research shows that non-violent uprisings involving 3.5% of the public participating in acts of civil disobedience force a political response because they cannot be ignored.

"Every non-violent uprising since 1900, if it achieves that threshold, succeeds in its aims," said Paluch-Machnik. "One of our main principles is to get this 3.5% mobilized."

Willing to get arrested

Almost 10,000 people worldwide have signed up as "willing to get arrested," as of April 8, 2019, according to the group. Around 3,000 are based in the UK.

Of those people, over 80% are also "willing to go to prison." The group holds prison workshops and training sessions to prepare people for what to do if they end up at a police station.

Pictured, a protest outside Downing Street, March 2019.

"Nothing has been achieved after 30 years of regular environmental campaign," said Paluch-Machnik. "People are so motivated by what is happening right now because there is not really another option."

"I've always been very worried about continuous news about the government not addressing the situation," said Alanna Byrne, an activist for Extinction Rebellion. "I felt very isolated in the way that I felt."

Along with 25 others, Paluch-Machnik, Lam and Byrne have quit their jobs to work for Extinction Rebellion full time.

"I think that any suffering that is caused as a result of a few hours sitting in a traffic jam is incomparable to what is going to happen in a few years" said Paluch-Machnik.

London's Metropolitan Police Service told CNN that it is aware of a number of Extinction Rebellion demonstrations and protests planned over the coming weeks, and that "Appropriate policing plans are in place."

It added: "We will always provide a proportionate policing plan to balance the right to a peaceful protest, while ensuring that disruption to communities is kept to a minimum."

This Monday, the group plans to shut down London in their biggest action yet. They plan to meet at five London locations and block traffic by playing music, hosting discussions and refusing to move from the street.

Image copyright Getty ImagesImage caption Two activists climbed on to a train at Canary Wharf while another glued his hand to the window

A campaigner who had glued himself to the train's window was removed about an hour after the start of the DLR protest, at about 10:50 BST.

A man and a woman who unfurled a banner and glued themselves to the top of the train's carriage were also later removed and carried off by officers.

BTP said three people had been arrested for obstructing the railway.

Extinction Rebellion: Can the plan work? London climate protest arrests close to 300 WATCH: 'Our objective is to cause disruption'

Extinction Rebellion targeted the DLR on Wednesday after protesters changed their minds about disrupting the Tube network.

Earlier, BTP ordered Transport for London (TfL) to switch off wi-fi at Tube stations in an attempt to deter protests.Image copyright PAImage caption The group targeted the DLR after it changed its mind about disrupting the Tube networkImage copyright ReutersImage caption Specialist British Transport Police officers have been deployed to Canary Wharf station

Supt Matt Allingham said extra officers would be on duty throughout the day, adding: "We will not tolerate any activity which disrupts the millions of passengers who rely on using the rail network in London."

Scotland Yard said protesters were being removed from Waterloo Bridge, adding those who did not comply would be arrested.

Most of the people arrested so far have been held in connection with public order offences.Image copyright DANIEL LEAL-OLIVAS/AFP/Getty ImagesImage caption Police arrested more than 200 people on Waterloo Bridge on Monday and Tuesday

The Met Police said "contingency plans are in place should custody suites become full".

Extinction Rebellion earlier said "thousands" more people were willing to be arrested as part of the non-violent disruption.

It had been planning to target London Underground to "highlight the emergency of ecological collapse" and persuade ministers to meet group members.

On Wednesday morning, the campaign group said: "Today we will disrupt one overground line as part of our escalating campaign to demand the government acts now on the climate and ecological emergency."

As dawn breaks on the third day of the Rebellion, protesters have held on to all four of their locations. With police cells full, thousands more Rebels willing to be arrested and hundreds joining daily, Government is increasingly feeling the pressure. pic.twitter.com/enXhRneecN — Extinction Rebellion 🐝⌛️🦋 (@ExtinctionR) April 17, 2019

Report

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Protester and climate lawyer Farhana Yamin, who was arrested on Tuesday, earlier told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "I totally want to apologise to people using public transport.

"But at the same time we need to take actions that are disruptive so everyone understands the dangers we're facing right now. People should understand that we are at a critical moment in our humanity's history."

Dozens of protesters arrested in Edinburgh What is climate change? The protesters who want to get arrested

Jace Tyrrell, chief executive of the New West End Company, said the first two days of protests had so far caused a loss of £12m in trade in the West End.

He told BBC Radio London: "Everyone has a right to peaceful protest. But this is really disruptive for us."

In Edinburgh, dozens of people were arrested earlier this week when hundreds of protesters blocked a main road.Image copyright DANIEL LEAL-OLIVAS/AFP/Getty ImagesImage caption Oxford Street has been empty of traffic since activists parked a pink boat in Oxford Circus on Monday

Organisers said protests had been held in more than 80 cities across 33 countries and wanted to continue "shutting down London" until 29 April.

Campaigners at Waterloo Bridge and Oxford Circus have been ordered to restrict their protests to Marble Arch after they caused widespread disruption on Monday. That order will continue until 21:10 on Friday.

Joao Verga, who works at a printing company, says the protesters at Oxford Circus have caused him disruption.

The 58-year-old said: "We're trying to make a living and we can't. We move very quick in this country, this is only going to slow down everything."

Three men and two women, in their 40s and 50s, arrested on suspicion of criminal damage at Shell's headquarters in London on Monday, have since been released while inquiries continue.

The majority of the other protesters detained have been held on suspicion of public order offences.What is Extinction Rebellion?Image caption Four people glued and chained themselves to a lorry on Waterloo Bridge

Since the group was set up last year, members have shut bridges, poured buckets of fake blood outside Downing Street, blockaded the BBC and stripped semi-naked in Parliament.

It has three core demands: for the government to "tell the truth about climate change", reduce carbon emissions to zero by 2025, and create a citizens' assembly to oversee progress.

Controversially, the group is trying to get as many people arrested as possible.

But critics say they cause unnecessary disruption and waste police time when forces are already overstretched.

The government said it shared "people's passion" to combat climate change and "protect our planet for future generations".

The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy said the UK had cut its emissions by 44% since 1990.

A spokesman said: "We've asked our independent climate experts for advice on a net zero emissions target and set out plans to transition to low emission vehicles and significantly reduce pollution through our Clean Air Strategy."

Extinction Rebellion: Climate protesters 'making a difference'

A teenage climate change activist has told Extinction Rebellion protesters in London they are "making a difference".

Greta Thunberg, 16, was greeted with chants of "we love you" as she took to the stage in front of thousands of people at the rally in Marble Arch.

A protest organiser said they planned "a week of activities" including a bid to prevent MPs entering Parliament.

More than 950 people have been arrested during the climate change protests and 40 people have been charged.

Ms Thunberg, a Swedish teenager who is credited with inspiring an international movement to fight climate change, told the crowd "humanity is standing at a crossroads" and that protesters "will never stop fighting for this planet".

Addressing the crowd at about 19:30 BST, she said: "For way too long the politicians and people in power have got away with not doing anything at all to fight the climate crisis and ecological crisis.

"But we will make sure they will not get away with it any longer."

Image copyrightAFPImage caption The Swedish teenager was greeted with loud cheers as she took to the stage

As of 19:00 on Sunday, a total of 963 people had been arrested during the climate change protests.

The Met Police said 40 people, aged 19 to 77, have been charged for "various offences including breach of Section 14 Notice of the Public Order Act 1986, obstructing a highway and obstructing police".

Extinction Rebellion said it hoped to negotiate with the Mayor of London and the Met over continuing its demonstrations at Old Palace Yard in Westminster and leaving other sites.

Organisers said there would be a "people's assembly" at Marble Arch on Monday afternoon to decide what will happen in the coming week.

At the scene

By Dan Coles, BBC News

For much of the day there had been several hundred people at Extinction Rebellion's Marble Arch site.

But the chance to hear from Greta Thunberg - something of a celebrity in the climate protest world - saw the numbers swell into the thousands. The crowd was bolstered by an influx from the Parliament Square location and their banners filled the air.

Greta Thunberg's two-day journey to London by train was eagerly followed on social media and she got a huge cheer as she finally took to the stage.

Her speech was short and sweet, but the message was exactly what the crowd wanted to hear: "Keep going. You are making a difference."

Image copyrightPAImage caption Hundreds of officers from other police forces have been sent to London to help the Met

Earlier, Extinction Rebellion member Farhana Yamin said the group had offered to "pause" protests and begin "a new phase of rebellion" to achieve "political aims".

She said the move would show the group was an "organised and a long-term political force to be reckoned with".

However, another Extinction Rebellion organiser Larch Maxey told the BBC there "certainly won't be a pause in our activities".

He said: "On Tuesday we've got a series of strategic points around the city which we will be targeting to cause maximum economic disruption while simultaneously focusing on Parliament and inviting MPs to pause."

Asked if MPs would be able to get into Parliament, he added: "Not if we are successful, we're going to prevent them getting in so they have time to separate themselves from the politicking and concentrate on what's at stake here."

Image copyrightReutersImage caption Cressida Dick said Londoners had experienced "miserable disruption" because of the protests

Police have been trying to confine the protests to Marble Arch but demonstrators have ignored the threat of arrest and continued to block roads across the capital.

Areas around Oxford Circus and Parliament Square have reopened to traffic after officers cleared protesters.

On Sunday afternoon, police removed the skate ramp, cooking tents and other infrastructure from the activists' camp on Waterloo Bridge.

Some protesters began removing their collection of trees and plants, and officers removed the last activist from the bridge at about 22:00.

Image copyrightAFPImage caption Officers carry away pieces of wood as they break up the protesters' camp on Waterloo Bridge

Met Commissioner Cressida Dick said that during her 36-year career she had never known a single police operation to result in so many arrests.

The climate change activists have grabbed attention. But like AOC’s green new deal in the U.S., their demands would require a drastic reworking of the state.By Therese RaphaelApril 23, 2019, 3:35 AM AKDT

London's climate rebels are blending the organizational ken and gravitas of the mass protest with the hip vibe of the music festival. It's a shrewd strategy. Photographer: TOLGA AKMEN/AFP

Therese Raphael writes editorials on European politics and economics for Bloomberg Opinion. She was editorial page editor of the Wall Street Journal Europe.

Measured by attention received, or noise made, London’s climate change protests have been a rousing success over the past week. As ever, there are doubts about whether the campaign of civil disobedience will make any real difference; but it does pose questions about the limits of democratic politics in the age of legislative gridlock.

With their banners, their graffiti, their drums, their street performers and their celebrity supporters, climate protesters marched, danced with police, delivered speeches and street performances, poured fake blood in front of Downing Street, got arrested, showed environmental catastrophe films, glued themselves to trains, disrupted traffic and generally made as much of a din as possible.

Extinction Rebellion, the group behind the protests, may be new but it has moved with the agility and single-mindedness of a hot tech startup. Its leaders spent years studying how to use mass movements to bring about radical change. They know their Gandhi, Martin Luther King and the Greenpeace playbook.

Their unique twist is blending the organizational ken and gravitas of the mass protest march with the hip vibe of the music festival. This is a shrewd strategy when you look at the increased politicization of Britain’s 20- and 30-somethings, evidenced by their hatred of Brexit and support for the Labour Party’s left-wing leader Jeremy Corbyn.

From their London headquarters, Extinction Rebellion volunteers are given training in what constitutes civil disobedience, as well as the legal consequences of property damage and various defenses. They learn the correct body position in which to be arrested, and practice their responses to angry and abusive onlookers (though Londoners have been pretty respectful).

Any comparison with other recent protest campaigns would show more differences than similarities. Extinction Rebellion rejects violence, unlike France’s Gilets Jaunes. Its acts are carefully planned and calibrated. The group even apologizes for damage to property and inconvenience to the public.

Unlike the Occupy Wall Street protests that followed the financial crisis, the London movement knows exactly what it wants and has effective messaging and leadership. It understands that anger gets old after a while, so the activism cleverly fuses outrage and disruption with more lighthearted stunts that grab attention, such as a giant pink boat fixed to the ground in London's busiest shopping street.

Sometimes the non-violence pledge gets a bit blurry. A group smashed revolving glass doors at Royal Dutch Shell. Extinction Rebellion justifies the occasional breakages by arguing that the Earth is like a burning house; you don't hesitate to knock down a few doors to save the inhabitants. “We do look like a bunch of trouble-makers and trouble-makers change the world,” Roger Hallam, a long-time activist and one of the group’s founders, told the BBC ahead of the protests.

The organization claims it is already winning hearts and minds; and judging from the press attention and reaction from many political quarters, they aren't wrong. A highlight came on Easter Sunday when 16-year-old Swedish activist Greta Thunberg, now an international superstar who had an audience with the Pope, addressed crowds, uniting the children’s protest movement of recent months with the adult one. The media loved it. Politicians clamored to acknowledge it – which is precisely the idea.

Detractors grumble that the group is merely blocking roads, impeding (low emission) public transport and hurting commerce – that this is middle class virtue signaling rather than a credible program. But perhaps it’s a sign of the growing fear of climate cataclysm that such complaints haven’t carried their usual weight.

It’s now up to Extinction Rebellion to prove it can do more than just protest. The get-to-know-us stage has been bold and attention-grabbing. What comes next is more difficult.

The ultimate aim is to get off the streets and use the political process to transform the environmental plan. The group has three broad demands: That the U.K. commit to zero carbon emissions by 2025, mandate a citizens’ assembly to advise on delivering climate targets and declare a state of climate emergency.

Britain has already promised to cut greenhouse emissions by 80 per cent from 1990 levels by 2050, one of the strongest legally mandated reductions anywhere. Emissions have been falling, down 43 percent by 2017, but overall, the U.K. has fallen behind schedule, having made the easy cuts early on.

Getting to zero emissions in double-quick time would, to have the faintest chance, require the entire country to be on a war footing and focused on little else. It would mean moving all heating and transport to clean energy and quickly phasing out reliance on fossil fuels, scrapping diesel and petrol vehicles and getting rid of gas boilers.

There would need to be a massive retrofitting of buildings all over the country to be energy efficient and a warp-speed scaling up of solar, wind and other renewable energy production. The group Zero Carbon Britain estimates it would require the building of 130,000 100-meter tall wind turbines, largely off-shore, covering an area twice the size of Wales.

All that is theoretically possible. Politically, it’s hard to see. Britain’s opposition Labour Party, which favors industrial planning, higher taxes and debt-funded spending, will be more sympathetic, but it would still have to rely on business investment and economic growth to help pay for it all. Mindful that younger voters have deserted them, many Conservatives are surprisingly positive about the protesters and their cause, but they dismiss the prescriptions as fantasy economics. They may agree to accelerate the fight on climate change, but argue that tanking the economy in the process would be counterproductive.

All of this echoes a debate in the U.S. that has centered on the rising Democrat star Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC), whose Green New Deal contains some similarly ambitious targets but has become a catchall for various traditional left-wing causes. Both Extinction Rebellion’s demands and AOC’s plan demand a scale of state industrial intervention that the Anglosphere hasn’t experienced in recent times. It would mean a dramatic redefinition of the role and purpose of government.

Frustrating as this might be to the protesters – who say politicians have failed to respond to the climate emergency – answers can only come through the nitty gritty of policy-making, the complex job of engineering tax incentives for renewables, regulatory changes, infrastructure planning and building projects. Unfortunately, this also requires a coherent government that can take decisions and pass legislation, something the Brexit-mired U.K. doesn’t have right now.

The risk with civil disobedience is, of course, that it makes protesters the arbiters of what’s just. A citizens’ assembly may indeed provide a contribution. But how would Extinction Rebellion respond if that body too failed to recommend drastic enough action?

None of this is to downplay the importance of the protest. Even if it scores only a partial success, it would suggest that civil disobedience is a more attractive (maybe even more effective) strategy in a time of political dysfunction than traditional lawmaking channels. The Yellow Vests in France have a much less coherent message, and have been overtly violent, but the country’s president Emmanuel Macron caved in to many of their demands.

This may all be a sign that democracy itself is becoming more volatile, less bound by the old rules and parties and more subject to the vagaries of mass movements. That’s a more troubling message.

It doesn’t suggest a happy ending either, given the polarization running through society in the U.S. and increasingly in the U.K. For all their fervor, the protests don't in themselves mitigate climate change. Ultimately, the hard work will still need to take place around a table.

This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.

Extinction Rebellion protests win political attention in the U.K.After 1,000 arrests and days of disruption, one group's direct action has successfully driven climate change up the political agenda in Britain.

Police officers surround the pink boat which climate change activists used as a central point of their encampment as they occupied the road junction at Oxford Circus in central London on April 19, 2019.Tolga Akmen / AFP - Getty Images

LONDON — A string of demonstrations that blocked bridges and major streets in central London, disrupted train services and saw over a thousand people arrested are being declared a success in forcing climate change higher up the political agenda.

Extinction Rebellion, a protest movement calling for the prevention of ecological collapse that launched in the United Kingdom last year, has inspired the support of thousands across the country, raised more than £250,000 ($322,000) in just 10 days and gained the attention of politicians.RelatedNewsU.K. children walk out of classrooms to demand action on climate change

"I think we’ve become hugely popular and politicians are aware of that," organizer Nuala Gathercole Lam told NBC News. "There has been a shift toward understanding the urgency of this."

The group is rallying behind warnings from scientists, the United Nations and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change that significant reductions in carbon emissions must be achieved within the next 11 years to avoid devastating consequences for the planet, such as mass extinction, by the end of the century.Climate change activists block stock exchange, train station as London protests endApril 25, 201901:08

Starting on April 15, demonstrators set up makeshift camps at various locations across the city including Waterloo Bridge and Marble Arch, the iconic triumphal arch near popular tourist sites including Buckingham and Kensington Palaces.

The final day of protests began Thursday with a group of seven demonstrators forming a chain outside the doors of the London Stock Exchange to highlight the negative impacts financial industries are having on the physical world, Gathercole Lam said.

Another group caused disruption by climbing on top of a train in in the city's financial center, Canary Wharf, according to the Metropolitan Police. Five people were arrested in the incident.

Protesters are demanding that the British government tell the truth about the severity of climate change, set drastic targets to reach zero carbon emissions by 2025 and establish a citizens' assembly to direct how those targets are reached.Climate change activists disrupt London's Tube with glueApril 17, 201900:45

"It seems like something that is totally unrealistic, but what is really unrealistic is that we're carrying on as business as usual," said Sarah Lummun, who works on the rebellion's political strategy.

People are sacrificing their careers and livelihoods with potential criminal records because they believe in the urgent need for action, Lummun said.

Of the over 1,000 people arrested, Met Police said as of Wednesday, 69 people were charged. A near-even split of men and women, whose ages ranged from 19 to 70, were among those arrested in that one day alone.Image: Members of the police carry a demonstrator during the Extinction Rebellion protest at the Marble Arch in LondonMembers of the police carry a demonstrator during the Extinction Rebellion protest at the Marble Arch in London on April 24.Toby Melville / Reuters

Conservative-leaning commentators have called the protests inconsequential and attacked them for only being supported by young, well-off liberals. Questions have been asked over why the police didn't take stronger action to clear streets and bridges.

But the net result of 11 days of disruption is a huge amount of publicity and the ear of senior politicians. The rebellion is expecting a formal invitation to meet with Michael Gove, the environment secretary, and other politicians, Lummun said. Numerous other members of parliament, mostly from the opposition Labour and Green parties, have joined the movement and spoken to demonstrators.RecommendednewsBoston-area judge charged with helping undocumented immigrant escape courthouse to elude ICEnewsAndrew Freund's parents killed him days before they reported him missing, police say

"On all levels, the Extinction Rebellion has been a fantastic success on raising the issue," said John Barry, a professor specializing in green political theory at Queen’s University Belfast.

"I think non-violent direct action is absolutely needed to push the political system, to challenge our economic system, to create a better economy and society."

The group has also gained traction internationally. In Los Angeles, protesters scaled the Universal Studios globe waving green flags for Earth Day last Monday. Chapters of the group have also organized in nearly 400 locations around the world.

Although the protests are set to end Thursday, Lummun said the movement will not die down any time soon.

"If we do not act, we have no future," she said. "If the government doesn't meet our demands, we will escalate."

Ten days of protests, blockades and disruption across London has come to a conclusion as Extinction Rebellion ended its action in the capital.

Hundreds of activists met in Hyde Park earlier for a "closing ceremony".

More than 1,100 people have been arrested since campaigners first blocked traffic on 15 April.

On the final day of action, protesters blocked roads, climbed on a train and glued themselves together in London's financial district.

On Thursday evening, climate change campaigners sat on the grass next to Speaker's Corner - widely considered London's home of free speech - singing and listening to musicians.

Transport for London said all roads are open around Marble Arch.

Extinction Rebellion: What happened?

Image copyright PAImage caption Ten days of protests in London ended with a gathering in Hyde ParkImage copyright PAImage caption Hundreds of people sat on the grass next to Speaker's Corner

Skeena Rathor, of Extinction Rebellion, welcomed the "rebels" to the ceremony and described the crowd as "beautiful beings", adding: "This is our pause ceremony.

"Welcome to the beginning of our pause."

She invited the crowd to "begin a process of reflection", adding: "Thank you for what you have done this week. It is enormous. It is beyond words."

The crowd cheered and clapped when a speaker said "the police were amazing" during the days of blockades.ADVERTISEMENTImage copyright DANIEL LEAL-OLIVAS/AFP/Getty ImagesImage caption Protesters cleaned the roads of chalked messages as they packed up their camp at Marble ArchImage copyright DANIEL LEAL-OLIVAS/AFP/Getty ImagesImage caption Musicians at Marble Arch marked the final day of action

"We will leave the physical locations but a space for truth-telling has been opened up in the world," event organisers said on their Facebook page.

"We would like to thank Londoners for opening their hearts and demonstrating their willingness to act on that truth.

"We know we have disrupted your lives. We do not do this lightly. We only do this because this is an emergency."Image copyright ReutersImage caption Nine protesters glued themselves together in a chain to stop people entering the Treasury in Westminster

Extinction Rebellion is urging the government to "tell the truth" about the scale of the climate crisis. It wants the UK to reduce carbon emissions to net zero by 2025 and a Citizens' Assembly set up to oversee the changes needed to achieve this.

What do they want and is it realistic? What is climate change?

On Thursday, 26 people were arrested on suspicion of aggravated trespass outside the Stock Exchange and on Fleet Street, bringing the total number of arrests up to 1,130 since the protests began on 15 April, the Met Police said.Media captionProtesters blocked the London Stock Exchange and climbed on top of a Docklands Light Railway train

Four people stood on top of a Docklands Light Railway (DLR) train while another glued herself to a train.

Five people were arrested on suspicion of obstructing the railway, the British Transport Police said.Image copyright ReutersImage caption Fleet Street was blocked by activists as part of a focus on the city's financial districtImage copyright ReutersImage caption Four people climbed on an DLR train at Canary Wharf

Meanwhile, Dame Emma Thompson, who joined the activists on Saturday, has defended flying from Los Angeles to London to take part.

The actress said it was "very difficult to do my job without occasionally flying" but she was "in the very fortunate position of being able to offset my carbon footprint".

More than 10,000 police officers have been deployed during the action.

Mayor of London Sadiq Khan said the protests had been a "huge challenge for our over-stretched and under-resourced Metropolitan Police".Image copyright EPAImage caption Dame Emma Thompson joined the protests on SaturdayImage copyright ReutersImage caption Traffic was blocked during short protests opposite the Bank of England

The Met said on Wednesday it had imposed new conditions under the Public Order Act on the protest area in Marble Arch, making it a criminal offence to protest outside a designated area or incite others to protest outside of it.

The conditions will remain in force until Saturday.Image copyright ReutersImage caption Phil Kingston, 83, was among those taken to custody over the protest at Canary Wharf

Jet setting in to protest CO2 emissions....you do have to quietly smile about that one. Next up, another Climate Change Conference in a faraway, picturesque place to declare definitive social media action is being thought about, with a stretch goal of perhaps "carefully considered" being added to the language, in order to bring a debate about climate justice and equality for anyone who wants it, without making uncomfortable those who do not, and ending with a ringing endorsement of meeting again soon in another picturesque location, to discuss the progress of....whatever...

Jet setting in to protest CO2 emissions....you do have to quietly smile about that one.

Most of those people didn't jet set to get to London. They're local Brits, you can tell by the accent. Many of them probably didn't even take carz, since London is a nightmare to get around by 4 wheel transport. They probably took the Underground.

Besides, we have been over this "hypocrisy" many times For as long as BAU is operational and climate conferences are held all over the world, the only way to get there is by plane. The planes will fly anyhow, so better to use them for the purpose of dissemnating the information than just vacationing in Hawaii.

Jet setting in to protest CO2 emissions....you do have to quietly smile about that one.

Most of those people didn't jet set to get to London. They're local Brits, you can tell by the accent. Many of them probably didn't even take carz, since London is a nightmare to get around by 4 wheel transport. They probably took the Underground.

Besides, we have been over this "hypocrisy" many times For as long as BAU is operational and climate conferences are held all over the world, the only way to get there is by plane. The planes will fly anyhow, so better to use them for the purpose of dissemnating the information than just vacationing in Hawaii.

RE

On a related note;I heard Paul Kalmus, a NASA climate scientist, interviewed by Alex Smith on Radio Ecoshock (https://www.ecoshock.org/2019/04/faint-hope-amid-rising-despair.html) about the hypocrisy of Climate scientists flying all over the planet to go to conferences. He for one has stopped doing that AND understands that if we were to have any hope of a sustainable lifestyle flying would have to go away. Of course he doesn't make the connection that we would have to reduce the population by 90% or so, but few want to talk about that. I say more power to XR, lots of them understand that the economic system must collapse if there is to be any faint amount of hope for the future. Not that I have any. AJ

Jet setting in to protest CO2 emissions....you do have to quietly smile about that one.

Most of those people didn't jet set to get to London. They're local Brits, you can tell by the accent. Many of them probably didn't even take carz, since London is a nightmare to get around by 4 wheel transport. They probably took the Underground.

Besides, we have been over this "hypocrisy" many times For as long as BAU is operational and climate conferences are held all over the world, the only way to get there is by plane. The planes will fly anyhow, so better to use them for the purpose of dissemnating the information than just vacationing in Hawaii.

RE

On a related note;I heard Paul Kalmus, a NASA climate scientist, interviewed by Alex Smith on Radio Ecoshock (https://www.ecoshock.org/2019/04/faint-hope-amid-rising-despair.html) about the hypocrisy of Climate scientists flying all over the planet to go to conferences. He for one has stopped doing that AND understands that if we were to have any hope of a sustainable lifestyle flying would have to go away. Of course he doesn't make the connection that we would have to reduce the population by 90% or so, but few want to talk about that. I say more power to XR, lots of them understand that the economic system must collapse if there is to be any faint amount of hope for the future. Not that I have any. AJ

Jet setting in to protest CO2 emissions....you do have to quietly smile about that one.

Most of those people didn't jet set to get to London. They're local Brits, you can tell by the accent. Many of them probably didn't even take carz, since London is a nightmare to get around by 4 wheel transport. They probably took the Underground.

Most, sure. But there was a specific person in the article apologizing and rationalizing exactly the point I mentioned. I understand that most were probably local, the one defending him/herself from jet setting there was not.

Quote from: RE

Besides, we have been over this "hypocrisy" many times

Maybe you have been involved in this "hypocrisy" discussion, if I think about it for even a little bit, I don't use quotes.

Quote from: RE

For as long as BAU is operational and climate conferences are held all over the world, the only way to get there is by plane.

At which, complaints about CO2 emissions are discussed and how to at the very least diminish them. Do you think ANYONE at those conferences suggests..you know...doing away with conferences to do their part?

Quote from: RE

The planes will fly anyhow, so better to use them for the purpose of dissemnating the information than just vacationing in Hawaii.

RE

And the internet can't disseminate information? Publishing papers doesn't disseminate information? Are you sure that taking selfies in those picturesque locations doesn't play into this somehow? We are talking about people after all, motivated self interest is what we do.

The planes flying anyhow is just a rationalization as to the why it is okay for people talking about reducing CO2 emissions to themselves create CO2 emissions. In the interest of the greater good of course.

Jet setting in to protest CO2 emissions....you do have to quietly smile about that one.

Most of those people didn't jet set to get to London. They're local Brits, you can tell by the accent. Many of them probably didn't even take carz, since London is a nightmare to get around by 4 wheel transport. They probably took the Underground.

Most, sure. But there was a specific person in the article apologizing and rationalizing exactly the point I mentioned. I understand that most were probably local, the one defending him/herself from jet setting there was not.

Quote from: RE

Besides, we have been over this "hypocrisy" many times

Maybe you have been involved in this "hypocrisy" discussion, if I think about it for even a little bit, I don't use quotes.

Quote from: RE

For as long as BAU is operational and climate conferences are held all over the world, the only way to get there is by plane.

At which, complaints about CO2 emissions are discussed and how to at the very least diminish them. Do you think ANYONE at those conferences suggests..you know...doing away with conferences to do their part?

Quote from: RE

The planes will fly anyhow, so better to use them for the purpose of dissemnating the information than just vacationing in Hawaii.

RE

And the internet can't disseminate information? Publishing papers doesn't disseminate information? Are you sure that taking selfies in those picturesque locations doesn't play into this somehow? We are talking about people after all, motivated self interest is what we do.

The planes flying anyhow is just a rationalization as to the why it is okay for people talking about reducing CO2 emissions to themselves create CO2 emissions. In the interest of the greater good of course.

My Collapse Morning Wake-Up Call addresses these issues. It's titled "The Extinction Conundrum". I'll let that be my answer. It airs in the AM on Sunday.

We’ve created wonders. We’ve made history. We’re just getting started.

The London Rebellion, after ten unbelievable days, will relinquish its final location on Thursday. We’ll be coming back to a different world.

At a monumental people’s assembly on Monday, rebels from across the UK came together to discuss how we’d move forward. Amazing ideas were shared, and were recorded to be visible here, here and here; we hope these ideas will also be seen in the shape of the plan going forwards.

An important part of this plan was when and how to leave our last location at Marble Arch. The discussion of this question began on Monday afternoon, and was made extra pertinent by a police raid later that evening, and then another the following day. During the latter – and from a police-cordoned stage – a further people’s assembly was convened to address specifically this question. A majority agreed to hold a closing ceremony at 5pm on Thursday.

We’ll be leaving on our own terms – and what terms! It’s clear that we’ve entered a new level of membership and support, both in the UK and abroad. Our social media following has more than doubled on all platforms; our Instagram reached over 8 million people in one week. With 40,000 new members since last Monday we’ve just crossed the 100,000 mark, and we’re nearing on 400 XR branches globally.

In London we pledged not to leave the streets until we saw serious engagement from government. Since MPs returning on Tuesday we’ve had so much political traction it warrants a whole section, the short version of which is that we’re doing really well. Is it enough? Of course not. The change we demand for the sake of our world is enormous; the apocalyptic interests against it are powerful.

It’s in view of this, and by demand from several peoples’ assemblies, that we came back to Parliament on Tuesday and Wednesday (see below). It’s for the same reasons that we’ll be disrupting the City on Thursday, and carrying out several more targeted actions in the coming days.

And it’s why, from the end of this week, we’ll be getting ready to spread our message wherever we go, in our local communities and across the world. But before we start this next journey, we’ll be holding a day of regeneration and reflection on Friday. It’s good timing because the long-term wellbeing team just finished a fantastic guide on post-rebellion care, which we strongly recommend that all rebels read. There are also online debriefs.

To start the reflection process early, this team would like to take a moment of humble gratitude – to our incredible members, of course (we’d especially like to welcome the recent arrival of XR Pakistan), but also to so many others who’ve made this Rebellion possible. To the many movements before and around us from the Chartists to RTS, Occupy to PNR and so many more, who fought and fight for our right to political protest. To the NGOs who’ve lent us their support, and the churches who gave us their space. We look forward to working together where we can, for the sake of the planet.

Political Traction

MPs have been returning to Westminster since Tuesday. As they’ve come back, we’ve seen a remarkable new level of environmental engagement.

This has been at its most apparent in the Commons’ hour-and-a-half discussion of the “Extinction Rebellion Urgent Question”. Among other highlights this featured a call from Ed Miliband for a government declaration of climate emergency and the implementation of a ‘green new deal’. The government’s familiarly brazen response of celebrating ‘progress to date’ seemed to ring a little more hollow than usual, the more so with Greta Thunberg watching from the gallery.

The general picture for now is of greater support from Labour, underlined in person when Extinction Rebellion Youth presented a letter to Diane Abbott outside Parliament. However there’s hope for the Tories yet, as Environment Secretary Michael Gove has offered a meeting with Extinction Rebellion. Sceptics might note the twelve past occasions on which Gove has voted against measures to address climate change, along with his attempt as Education Secretary to remove climate change from the GCSE geography curriculum… but we’re not here to bring up the past – we’re here for the future.

Beyond these early and official exchanges, our political strategy team also reports lively engagement ‘through backchannels’ – we can only speculate what might emerge from these.

We’re just two days into this session but it’s already clear, as one paper puts it, “Extinction Rebellion protests have WORKED”.

And if you’re feeling political: now that we have such a strong case in the Commons it might not be a bad time to indulge in a bit of petition signing.

What’s next for London and the UK?

Several people’s assemblies held in the last few days, including these ones, have been the primary guidance for what happens next